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As we grow ever closer to finding out who Joe Biden will select for his vice presidential running mate, the consensus among Democrats and their media allies seems to be that picking a black woman will ensure a Biden victory in the November elections. The names most often floated as strong contenders are failed presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and failed 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams.

That said, there are still a few holdouts on the left who think Biden should pick another woman as his running mate. As the Washington Post reported earlier this week, a group of prominent supporters of failed presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote a letter to Biden arguing that Warren would be the best choice:

More than 100 liberal activists, leaders and celebrities signed a letter urging Joe Biden to select Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his running mate, intensifying pressure on the presumptive Democratic nominee from the left as he faces competing demands to pick a black woman.

The letter portrays Warren (D-Mass.) as the best prepared prospect to serve as president and one uniquely capable of helping Biden politically in the November election. It asserts that he is “already strong” among nonwhite voters but could use help winning over disaffected voters who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the primary — even as some of them have soured on Warren.

“A crisis election as big as 1932 requires a big running mate. So why not the best?” says the letter, which bears the names of an array of left-leaning figures ranging from actress Jane Fonda to leading activists such as Ady Barkan and Charles Chamberlain.

One of the letter’s signatories was Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe, who fancies himself as one of the more woke leaders in academia. In explaining his choice of Warren for vice president to the WaPo, Tribe committed the cardinal sin of stating that choosing someone based on their (supposedly) better track record was more important than “cosmetic” factors like race:

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard University, where Warren once taught, said that there would be some “symbolic ways in which some people would be disappointed” if Biden does not choose an African American woman, and that disappointment should count. But Warren’s record, he said, makes her the strongest choice.

“I think African Americans above all would be the first to say they are more interested in results than cosmetics,” said Tribe, who signed the letter.

As you might imagine, this did not sit well with some Democrats, who took to the Twitter machine to condemn Tribe’s comments.

Former South Carolina state representative Bakari Sellers, a state co-chair for Harris’s presidential campaign, went off:

Even brilliant ppl say dumb things. @tribelaw, to assume picking Harris, Demmings or Rice is cosmetics, is well, asinine.

I’m really frustrated with these snide remarks about the preparedness of the black women being vetted for VP. pic.twitter.com/VBMFNJvWdr

— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) June 15, 2020

2016 Hillary Clinton campaign spokeswoman Karen Finney was also not amused by Tribe’s remarks:

Doubt the authors of this letter realize how offensive it is to essentially say a white woman knows more about racial justice and inequality than a Black woman. Oh, and we’re tired of being told to wait our turn. https://t.co/OwesLueVGy

— Karen Finney (@finneyk) June 16, 2020

Failed 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean also weighed in, calling the letter and Tribe’s explanation “the kind of clueless racism that many ‘well meaning’ white folks engage in all the time”:

I actually think they didn’t know what they were saying. This is the kind of clueless racism that many “well meaning” white folks engage in all the time. We have to overcome thisin this round of dealing with American racism. They are well meaning and hopefully willing to learn.

— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) June 16, 2020

Tribe also found himself on the receiving end of cancel warnings like this one:

If Laurence Tribe thinks a Black woman as VP is a symbolic choice, how did he approach the hiring of faculty at Harvard Law school? https://t.co/eRRPXCkV1H

— David Darmofal (@david_darmofal) June 15, 2020

Warren’s not off the hook, either, because she hasn’t denounced Tribe or something:

It's been two days now. Has Elizabeth Warren directly denounced her supporter Laurence Tribe's statement that a Black woman VP would be about "cosmetics"? If not, why not?

— David Darmofal (@david_darmofal) June 17, 2020

Not long after the Post published their write-up, Tribe took to the Twitter machine to apologize profusely for prioritizing someone’s record over everything else:

In urging @SenWarren as the strongest VP choice, I didn’t mean to express any doubt at all that several women of color currently on what’s said to be the Biden short list would be excellent choices as well. And (see next item in this thread)https://t.co/NXGTFqndmU

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) June 15, 2020

when asked by the Post why Biden’s choice of a white woman wouldn’t automatically offend African Americans, I replied that I thought they “above all would be the first to say they are more interested in results than in cosmetics.” I apologize for my choice of words. See next item

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) June 15, 2020

I’ve never doubted that racial identity is a significant variable in American governance. It should count heavily in favor of previously excluded groups as part of a person’s full record of background, skills, and values. I’m FOR Warren, not ANTI-excellent others.

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) June 15, 2020

On a side note, Tribe is a frequent critic of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who also happens to be a former student of Tribe’s. Will be interesting to see his reaction to all of this.

(Hat tip: Campus Reform)